by
Hollie T. Hon Jr. and Jan PhillipsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

12:03 PM, Monday, September 26 2011 | 1447 views | 0 | 5 | |

HECTOR — Do you believe in angels? Yes, I certainly do, and I believe they come to us in many different forms. You see, God sent us an angel in the form of a small, 2-pound, female offenpinscher puppy. He told us we would have to go to Nebraska to get her because He couldn’t find one in Arkansas. We told God that would be okay with us.

When we picked her up, she wasn’t all that pretty. In fact, she was almost an “ugly duckling.” She was solid black in color, so we named her Cricket. She was only 9 weeks old at the time. That was back in 2001.

It was no time at all until Cricket began to spoil us rotten. She had a little teddy bear that was about 6 inches tall she would bring to me each and every morning. It was like she thought, “if I bring my daddy a present, he will pet me.” Little did she know she had stolen my heart already.

One day we brought in a helium-filled balloon, and she was fascinated with it. We tied a long string to it and she would pull on the string until she would get it really close to the floor, then she’d turn loose of the string and try to catch the balloon before it could return to the ceiling. So began her fascination with balloons. From that beginning, she progressed to regular balloons we would blow up for her. She would carry them around and play with them for hours. She did this by getting ahold of them where they were tied. She would never burst one, but when the balloon would slowly loose its air, she would insist on a new one because it was tighter and would bounce better. It was no time at all until she learned where we kept them in the cabinet and she would sit on the floor, look up and bark for a new one.

We took her with us everywhere we went, 24/7. At first, we’d just put her in our shirt pocket, but eventually she outgrew the pocket and would no longer fit. When that happened, we had to devise a new plan because a lot of places wouldn’t allow dogs inside. So, we would gently lay Cricket over our shoulder and lay a baby blanket over her and pretend we were carrying a baby. This worked very well for a while, until we were discovered, and then we couldn’t get by with that anymore. At this point, we would still take her with us and leave her in the car when we had to go inside a business. Of course, we left the car running and the air conditioning going if it was hot outside. Over her lifetime, I’m sure we burned many tanks of gas doing this. Notice I didn’t say wasted tanks of gas because it wasn’t wasted. Our baby was comfortable. That was the important thing!

Over time, she became known by many different names — Angel, Baby, Sweetheart, Honey, Princess and Precious to name a few. She had definitely transformed from a pet into a family member and we always thought of her that way. Whatever she wanted, she got, if it was within our power to do so.

Yes, she had her own part of the house that was devoted strictly to Cricket. It had a huge 3-feet by 3-feet pillow that had a 12-inch fan in front of it that was strictly for Cricket’s comfort. She loved her place and relaxed there for many hours.

She was perfection at its best. She never jumped on furniture and if we picked her up and put her on the couch, she would remain there until we put her down. She was always content doing whatever we chose to do just as long as she was at our side. She would sit quietly for hours while we would play cards with family and friends. Yes, this little “ugly duckling” turned into a beautiful princess. Yes, we spoiled her but she returned our love 100 fold. We loved Cricket with all our hearts.

However, at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2011, God decided he needed Cricket with him. I prayed to God to please allow Cricket to stay with us just a little longer, but it seemed God loved Cricket, too and He missed having her by his side. So, he called his angel home to be with him. We put Cricket’s little teddy bear in her casket with her. You see, God needed someone to bring a teddy bear to him every morning, too.

Do you think dogs go to heaven? I believe they do. Our little Cricket was heaven on earth. We gave her a good life and in return she saw to it that we had a good life, too. You see, Cricket took care of us. She died in my arms with my eyes so full of tears that I couldn’t see.

Tears still fill my eyes as I’m writing. We still live in the same house and all of the furniture is still in the same place. It’s empty. I feel hollow inside as though a part of my soul is gone. I would have changed places with her if God would have allowed it. I could not have loved her more.

If you have a dog, give it a really big hug and tell him or her that you love them. Do it today, because you may not be able to do it tomorrow. Sometimes we get wrapped up in life — we worry about our bills, jobs, the economy, the drought, the stock market, the car that needs to go to the shop and 100 other things. Let me tell you, today all those things mean nothing to me. You see, they aren’t the important things.

Oh yes, if you should ever want to come visit us, you’re always welcome. Just go south of Hector on State Highway 105 for about 3 miles and turn right on the drive that reads “Cricket’s Place.” As you pull up the drive, if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of two hearts breaking.

If you’ve never loved an animal, there’s a portion of your soul that has never been awakened.